Hard work pays off for female veterans

A feminist since age 6 with vibrant magenta hair and stompy black platform boots, Jonni Taylor worries she doesn't stand out enough – as a veteran, that is.

When people see the eagle and anchor emblem on Taylor's car, they ask if she's driving her husband's car. At the Veterans Affairs clinic she goes to occasionally for treatment of injuries from a car accident a few years ago, other patients wonder if the 42-year-old Marine veteran is a dependent.

The day another woman asked Taylor which branch she served in, she cried.

“And I'm not a crier,” she said.

It was one of the few signs of recognition she has received in the 20 years since her service in the Marines ended. She was thrilled.

In some ways, the lack of recognition may be an advantage. Female veterans, like their male veteran counterparts, struggle with stigmas that often label them as damaged or unstable. They want employers, their peers and their professors to know how valuable they are.

Female veterans graduate from college at a higher rate than not only their male veteran counterparts, but also their female non-veteran peers, according to a VA survey.

They are also less likely to be unemployed or living in poverty than non-veteran women, the same survey found.

This may be due to the rigorous physical and administrative training they receive, or the mission-driven attitudes with which the military equipped them. For women, often the way they are treated in the military conditions them for the workforce.

“Women in the military have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good,” said Taylor, who will graduate from Cal State Fullerton at the end of this semester with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

“So you come back, and you always try to work twice as hard. You perform. You get the job done.”

The high-achieving female veterans like Taylor will be the subject of a March 19 regional conference at Cal State Fullerton designed to highlight the academic presence of veterans. Of all veterans surveyed in the most recent census, 21 percent of women veterans completed their bachelor's degree. Eleven percent attained an advanced degree, according to the VA.

Advocates for veterans' mental health will speak at the conference, which also includes a career fair and networking opportunities. The public is welcome.

Taylor said she hopes younger women returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will also find their way to the conference. Determining the kind of outreach those younger women veterans will need on campuses in coming years will be a challenge not yet met by existing veterans services, and will be especially vital as they fill combat positions.

“There's very little research out there that isn't sexual trauma, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or pregnancy,” Taylor said. “Where are the longitudinal studies on the women who broke ground and got into career fields that were previously closed to them? How are they faring now? How has the culture changed to allow them to integrate? Are they integrating? There's nothing.”

This is not to say those subjects aren't important to the dialogue Taylor hopes to have with veterans and non-veterans. The keynote speaker at the conference will be Lori Katz, the Long Beach VA's Military Sexual Trauma (MST) coordinator. She's an expert on MST, which affects about 1 in 5 female veterans seen by the VA. It's also the subject of the 2012 documentary “The Invisible War,” which will be screened at the conference.

However, trauma and mental health struggles won't be the exclusive focus of the conference, said Catherine Ward, coordinator for Cal State Fullerton's Veterans Student Services.

Instead, the conference will be geared toward recognizing the qualities the women gained from the military and how they enhance the academic community. The conference is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 19 at Fullerton's TSU Pavilion. Information:
fullerton.edu/veterans.

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